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This is a continuation of an article I wrote on Russian Pronunciation. (If you haven’t read the first article, RUSSIAN PRONUNCIATION, do so now, and then come back to this.) In this follow-up, I want to improve how you pronounce Russian letters by having YOU write out various English words using the Cyrillic alphabet. This is a very effective technique, with the added benefit that it makes you feel like a spy writing in secret code.

Don’t worry about perfect handwriting. Just do your best on the few tricky letters. As with the other article, the answers will be at the end. Remember, I want it so that when someone sounds out the Russian letters, they HEAR the sound of the English words. Does that make sense?

Remember, it’s hard to line up sounds exactly between the two languages, especially when it comes to vowels. The “ih” sound in words like “big” and “ship” doesn’t exist in Russian, and they usually write it with their letter И (which sounds like “ee”). This explains why Russians pronounce these words as “A beeg sheep came into harbor.” In any case, there is often more than one way to sound out these words. The “uh” sound of “hug” is also missing from Russian, as are many other vowel sounds. Plus, they have nothing even close to our “th” sound, so that usually gets glossed over with a Z. As in, “Zees eez zee best pizza!”

Moving on, let’s try writing out names. There might be “official” Russian ways to spell these names, and my answers might conflict with those. I’m simply going to write the names out as accurately as I can with the Cyrillic letters, despite any differences there might be with the official versions.

PRONOUNCE RUSSIAN PART I.

Compared to some languages, Russian pronunciation is a breeze. Sure, if your goal is to master pronunciation to the point where you can pass yourself off as a native speaker, then – true – you’ve got a lot of work ahead. But if you don’t mind speaking with an accent – as I have for six years, now – and instead just want to speak well enough so that Russian people understand you, then Russian pronunciation is no big deal.

If you prefer video instruction, then watch this video on how to pronounce each letter in Russian’s Cyrillic alphabet. Otherwise, read on, as we go through each letter and you`ll eventually learn Russian step by step.

As I often do, I want to employ contextual learning to imbed the sounds on a deeper level. The great thing about this method is it’s easy, natual, and the most effective.

All BIG BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS are Russian letters. The first round is easy because they look the same and sound the same as their English counterparts.

Мonday

Тuesday

Оpen wide, said the doctor, and say…

Аhhh .

Кiller!

So, the English word TAKOMA would be spelled: TAKOMA in Russian, as well.

Let’s note right here that the Russian versions of these letters have few if any variations in pronunciation. The same absolutely CANNOT be said of the English versions. How many sounds can you make with the English ‘O’ for example? Women? So and ‘o’ in English can be pronounced ‘ihh’? There’s only two variations in Russian for an ‘O’. Either the ‘Oh’ sound of ‘Open” or an ‘Ah’ sound, as in “Say ahh.”

Here’s the next batch for learning Russian…

БaseБall is perhaps the most popular sport in America.

Сeptember is my birth month, but…

Нovember is my favorite month.

Лaugh out Лoud!

Пretty Пlease, with sugar on top?

Рonald Peagan was the 40th President of the United States.

Вampires are scary!

Фotoshop is a great program.

Let’s play with these a bit before going on. The following will be English words sound out using the Russian alphabet. The answers are at the end:

СНО

БОН

ФАР

БАР

ПРО

ЛАМП

МАРС

How’d you do? Ok, let’s the next set…

Дavid and Гoliath

Гarden of Eden.

Хa Xa, very funny.

The MiraЖ in Las Vegas is my favorite hotel.

Зippidee do dah!

Шotgun wedding.

Чinese Фood is delicious!

Яtzee is a game played with dice.

Уps, I Did It Again is Brittney’s best song!

Еsterday is the Beatle’s best song!

We’re almost done. One more round after this. Let’s play with our new letters. The answers, again, will be at the bottom:

ГАД

ЕС ОР НО?

ЧУ СЛО

ГАРАЖ

ФЛАШ

ЯДАЯДА

ХОТДОГ

Here’s the final batch of Russian letters for you:

Ё dude, whassup! Or: My favorite toy is a ЁЁ.

Иk, a mouse! Or: Иster egg!

OЙ vei, what a headache! Or: G.I. Joe is my favorite toЙ.

Эpcot Center is better than Disney World.

Ю2 is a great group, but I’m not a big fan of Bono.

WhaЦ up, dude?

Ыk, another mouse!

LooЩ-ange

Let’s play with these newest ones, and then get to the answers:

ЭГ ЁЛК.

ЭКСКЮЗ МИ!

ТОЙ СТОРИ.

Ok, here’s the answers to all the words I wrote out:

СНО = Snow

БОН = Bone

ФАР = Far

БАР = Bar

ПРО = Pro

ЛАМП = Lamp

МАРС = Mars

ГАД = God

ЕС ОР НО? = Yes or no?

ЧУСЛО = Chew slow.

ГАРАЖ = Garage

ФЛАШ = Flash.

ЯДАЯДА = Yada yada.

ХОТДОГ = Hot dog.

ЭГЁЛК. = Egg yolk.

ЭКСКЮЗМИ! = Excuse me!

ТОЙСТОРИ. = Toy Story.

FINAL EXAM

Finally, here’s a few sentences written in English, but using Cyrillic letters to spell out the words. Think of it as a final exam. Give it a try:

Of course, asking “Is it far?” (”Eto daliko?”) is a pretty vague question. What exact distance is ‘far’ anyway? One man’s short walk is another man’s all-day hike. Still, you can judge a lot by the person’s reaction and the emphasis they put on the word as they reply, as well as the modifiers they use:

Kharahshow could just as easily be spelled ‘horror-show’, they sound so similar. The problem is that English is missing a sound here, altogether. It’s the sound of the Cyrillic letter ‘X’. The sound a Russian person will make when reading that is totally different than the sound an English speaker would make. For Russians, it’s the sound you make when — and I apologize for the image, but it’s very accurate — when you hock up a loogie, just before spitting. It probably has some fancy linguistic name like a friccative or something, but I call it the loogie sound. Most Russians will spell the word using the ‘X’ (when forced to use the English alphabet): Xopowo. That’s the version I’ll use the rest of the way.

Anyway, talk about your all-purpose word!

How was the flight? Xopowo.
How was the movie? Xopowo.
How’d you sleep? Xopowo.

What CAN’T be described as either good, ok, fine, all right, etc?

You can also use it to agree: “Hey, wanna go to the beach?” – “Xopowo!”

Or to agree reluctantly: “Wanna go to the ballet?” – Here you answer slowly, with pain, “Xopowoooo.”

The degree of goodness you convey is all in your tone. You can heap high praise on an artist’s work with a heartfelt ‘xopowo’, or be sarcastic as you “praise” your buddy for spilling your beer. Finnaly, it’s often the 2nd to last word in a conversation, as in this blog: